Assam CM brainstorms with officials as 31.54 lakh people affected by floods

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma held a virtual conference with Deputy Commissioners on Thursday and asked them to provide relief and ensure the rehabilitation of affected people at the earliest. He also directed them to make a speedy assessment of damages caused by floods so that adequate compensation can be paid to affected people.

Guwahati:The flood situation in the North-East Indian state of Assam is on a steady decline, with more than 31.5 lakh people having been affected due to the natural calamity so far. The deluge has so far claimed the lives of 12 people, with most areas of Silchar, a major town in the Cachar district, submerged for the last 10 days. The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) issued a bulletin on Thursday noting that among the victims, 11 died due to landslides caused by the floods, while another person drowned.

The 31.54 lakh figure comes barely 24 hours after the previous count estimated the affected population to be 24.92 lakhs. Brahmaputra, Beki, Kopili, Barak, and Kushiyara rivers in the state are flowing above the danger mark.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma held a virtual conference with Deputy Commissioners on Thursday and asked them to provide relief and ensure the rehabilitation of affected people at the earliest. He also directed them to make a speedy assessment of damages caused by floods so that adequate compensation can be paid to affected people.

The Chief Minister said that a timeline has been set to assess the damages in each district by July 15 which will be endorsed by the guardian ministers and secretaries by July 20, after which compensation will be distributed to affected people. The entire process is expected to be completed by August 15.

While the health department is organizing medical camps to prevent water-borne diseases. Medical personnel has been deployed in 28 municipal wards of the city while health camps have been set up at various relief centers where people have been given packets of ORS for the prevention of diarrhea. A total of 2,675 villages under 79 revenue divisions across the state have been affected by the floods while 3,12,085 people have taken shelter in 569 relief camps. Cachar has been the worst affected by the floods, with 14.30 lakh people affected.

This is followed by Barpeta (5.49 lakh) and Nagaon (5.19 lakh). Five embankments were breached, while 177 roads and five bridges were damaged. A total of 548 houses have been completely damaged and 1,034 partially damaged. There has been large-scale soil erosion in Baksa, Barpeta, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Morigaon, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sonitpur, South Salmar, Tamulpur, and Tinsukia districts. (With agency inputs)